Final Assult
by Heachan
Summary: The Preventer's ship is attacked.--I dont like writting these. Please rr, I wasn't sure if I was going to even post it.
1. The silent attack

*Final Assault*  
  
It was unusually quiet that evening. Normally there was some racket going on somewhere. On occasion guards could be heard, making their rounds throughout the night. They would talk in low tones so not to wake anyone but you could still hear them. And when you couldn't hear the guards, you could certainly hear machinery or even air traveling through the air tucks. But tonight was different, there were no familiar sounds. The head of the ship, Sally Po had left for New York to attend a meeting. It was being held in the hopes of discussing the current problems. Globally the world's black market had grown rapidly. Something had to be done about it however that might involve some sort of Military effort. The severity of the matter was clear, considering all the hostage situations which had recently come up. Demands were coming in frequently. The Preventer's were almost always busy. They had become more lenient on their decisions when it came to hostage situations. Along with Sally were two other staff members with high rankings. Lucrezia Noin and Zechs Marquis also joined her on this trip as did her partner Wufei Chang. She hadn't left anyone in particular in charge on the ship when she left. She knew her staff was qualified if there were any situations. And from how things had been since she was away it would have appeared that nothing was wrong. But the abnormal silence proved otherwise. To any normal person, the silence would be nothing to be concerned with at this time of night. Of course that assumption would have benefited the attackers, who were taking over the control room. The Dorms were on the other side of the ship, so they didn't worry about that. They had managed to sneak in, undetected and then take over the Control room. There weren't many of them but they were able to outsmart the guards. There was now an accumulation of them, unconscious on the floor. The enemy had shut down a majority of the machinery since there was no need for it. Their only flaw was not closing off their section of the ship. If they had done that then maybe no one in the dorms would have noticed them. They hadn't thought their plan out as much as they should have. They discussed their plans quietly among themselves as a tall figure listened in from a safe distance. Trowa Barton couldn't make out all that they said, but he had a good idea of what they were planning. He narrowed his eyes as he strained to hear them. He had heard enough though. He turned to leave only to stop short. A steady blue gaze met him around the corner.  
  
"Guess you noticed the commotion too." Came the monotone response. He simply nodded back. Heero Yuy looked around the corner to get a better look at the enemy. Trowa walked past him, towards the dorms. He followed after him. Once they were out of that section, Trowa began to explain the situation.  
  
"Do you think they know we're even here?" Heero asked him as they walked.  
  
"It's hard to say considering they haven't checked the rest of ship yet." They made it back to the dorms and made sure the area was secure.  
  
"I don't think we even have any weapons on the ship." Trowa mentioned  
  
"Then we'll have to come up with something else." Heero answered back. They each went to their separate rooms in order to change. Then they attempted to wake the other two up. Quatre Winner immediately knew something wasn't right.  
  
"How many of them are there?" Was one of his first questions.  
  
"The four of us should be able to handle them." Trowa explained. He exited the room so Quatre could get ready. In the next room, Heero was trying to get their other partner out of bed. Duo Maxwell sleepily sat up, waiting for Heero to explain why he was waking him up. The clock nearby showed that it was way too early for work.  
  
"Can't this wait till morning?" He asked, stretching his arms over his head.  
  
"No, hurry up and get ready." Was the quick reply. Duo let out a loud yawn in response. Heero threw his uniform at him.  
  
"Now." He added, leaving the room.  
  
"Sheesh I don't see what the big deal is." Duo answered but Heero was already gone. Once they were all out in the hall, Trowa and Heero explained what was going on.  
  
"So should we split up or stick together?" Quatre asked.  
  
"Considering that we don't have any weapons, we should probably stay together." Heero mentioned. Trowa just nodded in agreement.  
  
"I'm sure Sally has something on board though." Quatre said. "In case this ever happened."   
  
"Does this have anything to do with that meeting? They certainly picked a good time to come here." Duo pointed out.  
  
"This attack probably does have to do with that. We should contact the other Preventers." Heero answered.  
  
"But what if they disconnected the lines? Then we'll have no way of contacting them." Quatre remarked. Heero turned and went out into another hallway. The other three followed him out. He led the way to one of the nearby rooms. There was only one computer in the room but it was enough. He butted it up and quickly brought up a map of the ship. They all leaned into the screen.  
  
"They're in this section. If they destroyed the phone lines then they would have had to go over here." He explained.  
  
"So we can get the lines up and running without them knowing about it." Trowa added, straightening up and crossing his arms.   
  
"Maybe splitting up would be the best idea right now." Heero decided. He looked back at the other three.  
  
"Quatre, you try to contact the others, while Trowa goes to this point to make sure the line is secure. I'll try to see if I can find anything that would be useful." He glanced over at Duo, who was waiting for instruction.  
  
"See what you can find out. Just don't make any more trouble then we already have." He added causing Duo to smirk back.  
  
"Who, me?" He replied. Heero went over to a closet in the room. He retrieved four communicator headsets.  
  
"Don't forget where the cameras are. It's likely they'll be monitoring the entire ship." He added. They all went their separate ways.  
  
______________________________________________________________________  
  
It didn't take the infiltrators long to get their message out to the world. In New York, the other Preventer's along with Relena sat in the conference room. They all eagerly waited for a ransom of some sort to be released. Even in the colonies, it was being aired.  
  
L3- "Hey Catherine, you had better come see this." Catherine's manager called to her. She hurried into the trailer to see the news report.  
  
"Oh no, that's where Trowa is." She exclaimed taking a seat on the couch. She sat there hoping to find out if they had him.  
  
"I hope he isn't hurt." She said softly to herself.   
  
L2- Hilde had caught the announcement half way through it. It was hard to fully understand how they had managed to get onboard. She knew that their security system was hard to crack.  
  
"I hope they're okay." She thought out loud. She noticed there was no mention of any names. And from what she could tell only guards had been involved.  
  
Back in New York- "Do they honestly think that this will change our decision?" Relena asked the Preventers. She clenched her fists in her lap angrily. Noin sat down next to her.  
  
"I'm sure that the other Preventers will be able to handle the situation." She said comforting. Zechs stood up from where he was sitting.  
  
"Frankly I don't understand why they would bother taking over that ship. It doesn't have any type of weapon on it. They're completely open for an attack." He mentioned in hopes it would make Relena feel better. She looked down at the floor.  
  
"Then how will they defend themselves?" She muttered lowly.  
  
***  
  
As it turned out, the enemy began to search the ship. One of the first places they checked was the dorms which were now empty. The fact that the enemy was no longer in one place made things more difficult. Heero slowly made his way to one of the hangars in order to check for weapons. He figured that there might be something in one of their own shuttles. He searched the three that were there but had no luck.  
  
He noticed an unfamiliar shuttle near the entrance. He pushed off the floor and floated over. He found two hand guns in the front, along with some ammo.   
  
"But this won't be enough." He thought out loud hiding both guns in his jacket. He stuck the ammo in his back pocket. He heard someone coming his way and quickly hid. One of the enemies entered the hangar, weapon in hand. Heero wasn't sure if   
  
the soldier had heard him in there. The soldier pulled out his communicator.  
  
"There's no one here. Guess it wasn't anything important." He said into it. Heero watched, anticipating for when he would leave. He grimaced as the soldier decided to take a better look around. Suddenly the soldier was knocked against the wall and slumped to the floor. Heero stared, not sure what had happened. He looked up above where the soldier was to see Duo on one of the rafters. He jumped down to tie the soldier up. He unarmed him and checked for any more weapons.  
  
"This is all you got? Oh well, guess it'll have to do." Duo complained loudly, removing the ammo as well. He proceeded to move the soldier away from the door. He stood up and looked over to the fourth shuttle.  
  
"You can come out now. I took care of him." He hollered over, causing Heero to come out.  
  
"Keep it down. He could have a partner." Heero warned. Duo just grinned more.  
  
"I would have noticed another one. And besides I can take care of myself." He answered. Heero walked up to him.  
  
"With your luck, you'll get caught." He mentioned, looking out into the hallway. Duo leaned forward to get Heero's attention.  
  
"Half the time that's part of your plan anyway." He said back. Heero just changed the subject after seeing no one in sight.  
  
"Why are you over here anyway? We agreed to split up." He reminded him.  
  
"Hate to break it to yah, but I'm not over here because of you. The camera's can be turned off from this area." He explained pointing up at the ceiling. Heero looked up and there were several wires hanging low.  
  
"I figured, they'd assume there was an electric short or something." He added. Heero simply nodded his acknowledgement and left the hangar.  
  
***  
  
Meanwhile, Trowa made his way to the area he needed to be in. He located the right system and sure enough the line had been severed. He worked quickly, listening for any noise. Once he was finished, he left without a trace. Hopefully they wouldn't come back to this area and find the line repaired. He headed back out into the hallway, making sure that no one was out there. He decided to head back to the room they had met in before. Quatre was in there and quickly turned around as Trowa entered the room. He sighed in relief when he saw who it was. He quickly went back to work. Trowa went over to see how far he had gotten.  
  
"Is everything ready?" He asked Trowa in a low voice. Trowa nodded silently. "We can't get caught doing this. If they find out they'll know we're here." He added as he continued putting in the data.  
  
"They don't seem to suspect anything yet but it would be wise to remain discrete." Trowa answered, glancing behind him. Now the computer was trying to connect to Headquarters. Quatre fidgeted in his chair as it was taking so long. The door opened, causing Quatre to hold his breath again. Trowa turned and tapped him on the shoulder.  
  
"So there they are." He mentioned as Heero and Duo entered the room.  
  
Quatre slouched a little in his seat, trying to stay calm. Suddenly the connection got through. Une answered it and seemed to be handling things on her end well.  
  
"Do you know how many of them there are?" She inquired. Heero leaned in to tell her what they had learned so far. She nodded once he was finished.  
  
"Is there anyway of you getting off the ship?" She suggested.  
  
"At this point that doesn't seem to be an option considering they did something to our shuttles. We only have three onboard." Heero explained. Duo got his attention and he turned away from the screen for a moment.  
  
"Can't we just take their shuttle though? Then they'd be stuck here cause this things almost impossible to move." He mentioned. "That won't work since they even went as far as to sabotage their own shuttle. No one is leaving." Heero remarked turning back to the screen. Une was obviously thinking about what options they had available at that time.   
  
"Is there anyway of you getting back the control room? If you did that then I could send Wufei, Noin, and Zechs as backup. But they'd have to be able to access the ship. The only way to do that is from the control room." She asked. Heero thought about it for a moment.  
  
"We might be able to do that but it would take some time. We'd have to divide them up." He added. Une agreed to buy them as much time as she could. Once they finished their conversation with her they began planning.  
  
***  
  
The first part of their plan was to find out how many soldiers were still in the control room. Trowa offered to find out. He went up into the ventilation shaft and headed in that direction. The other three went in opposite directions of each other in order to find anything that might help them. Quatre remembered hearing of a storage where Sally had of stun guns and other equipment. He headed for her office while Heero went to see if he could do anything about the shuttles. Duo just went out 'looking for trouble', or rather to see where the enemy was at that point. Once again they all brought communicators with them.  
  
***  
  
Trowa reached the hallway in front of the control room. He peered down from inside the vent to see two guards in front of the door, keeping watch. He got a closer look at them.  
  
'Those are our soldiers. Why are they guarding the door?' He noticed and quietly moved on into the room from above. There were only three people in the actual room and from what he could tell two of them were in charge.  
  
'I wonder where the rest of our soldiers that they took as hostages are?' He thought as he leaned down to listen.   
  
"So they are still onboard then? Have you located which area they are in yet?" One guy said to the other.  
  
"We thought they were in the dorms but they moved out of that section. We've estimated that they are somewhere in docking section 12. A couple of the men are checking it out." Came the monotone answer. Trowa figured he wasn't going to get any more information. He slowly made his way around the vent cover in order to get back outside the room.  
  
"We also have one other matter to discuss." One of the three men added. It caused Trowa to stop, unsure of whether they had noticed him or not. It was suddenly quiet below. He heard the door slid open and then shut. A few seconds later he continued crawling back the way he came. He was now outside the control room. Just when he was home free, a powerful hand came up and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. He was dragged out of his hiding place, down into the hallway. He had to maneuver some, in order to get down without getting hurt. Whoever had grabbed him was strong. They yanked him down and forced him to stand up. He met the leader's steady gaze.  
  
"So this is that other matter. You know what to do." Was all that was said by him and he walked away. The guards roughly grabbed Trowa and headed in the other direction.  
  
***  
  
Meanwhile Quatre was almost to Sally's office. He was taking his time in order to avoid getting caught. Once he got in the office, he shut the door and locked it. Then he began looking through the one cabinet against the side wall. There wasn't anything useful in there so he went for the closet. He found four hand guns with ammo. He heard someone outside the door trying to get in. He ducked underneath the desk and he heard them come in.  
  
The lights came on, and Quatre held his breath. There were two of them in the room. They were searching the files in the desk as well as the filing cabinets.   
  
"Come on we've already searched in here. Those documents aren't in here. Let's go." The one said to the other. They headed out. As they passed by the desk Quatre noticed that they were in Preventer uniforms. 'Are they Preventers or did they steal some extra uniforms?' He asked himself. Once the room was dark again and they had left, he came out from under the desk. He pulled out his communicator to call the others.  
  
"Any of you there?" He said in a low voice. Heero was the first one to answer him.  
  
"What is it Quatre?" He asked in his regular tone. He glanced around in order to make sure there was no one nearby.   
  
"I found a couple of weapons in the office but I don't know if it's enough.  
  
And there's something else going on around here. I almost got caught and the soldiers were wearing Preventer uniforms. And they were looking for something in the office but I don't know what." Quatre explained. Heero thought about it for a moment.  
  
"Are you sure? That wouldn't make any sense. We already know they're onboard." Heero answered back quietly. There was someone coming his way so he moved quickly into the shadows. Three soldiers walked by and sure enough they were in Preventer uniforms. Heero got a better look and realized that these were guards that had always worked for Sally onboard.   
  
"You're right Quatre, something isn't right." He said into his communicator. "I'll see what else I can find out. There might be spies that we didn't know about." He added. They ended their conversation and Heero followed the soldiers who had just run by. He didn't get far, only to find that the hallway ended. There was no one around. Heero couldn't find any clue to where they had gone. He turned to leave when suddenly there they were only this time there were more of them then before. Heero narrowed his eyes, thinking of how to get out of this situation. The men didn't move towards him but stayed where they were. They looked weird for some reason but Heero couldn't figure out why. He took one step towards them and they went for their guns. He decided to surrender and put his hands above his head. Despite cooperating with them, they still grabbed him roughly and handcuffed him.  
  
***  
  
Duo found his way back to the hanger from before. He looked around for Heero but didn't see him. He was hoping to help fix one of the shuttles. Since Heero was nowhere to be found, Duo decided to get to work. As it turned out there wasn't anything significantly wrong with the shuttles, only that a couple of wires had been cut. Once he replaced the wires he made sure the shuttle could be used. He started it up and luckily enough it worked. He jumped down and noticed Heero still wasn't anywhere in sight.  
  
"Oh well, guess he found something better to do. I better get going before anyone comes in here from all the noise I just made." He mentioned and pushed off the ground and headed to where they had agreed to meet. When he got there the only other person in view was Quatre.  
  
"Hey where are the other two?" Duo asked once he got there. Quatre shrugged back. I don't know, I talked to Heero awhile ago but since then there's been silence on the communicators." Quatre explained. Duo looked down at his communicator. "I forgot that I turned mine off. That doesn't seem like them though to just disappear like that." Duo pointed out. Quatre nodded back.  
  
"There are some weird things going on around here." Quatre added. Duo headed over to the computer and Quatre followed him.  
  
"Maybe we can find them on the security cameras." He thought out loud. The cameras showed all over the ship but there was no sign of the other two Preventers. Finally they found them however it wasn't where they expected. They were in the control room with the hijackers. They were actually talking with them.   
  
"That doesn't make any sense. Why would they be in there with them?" Quatre asked. Duo didn't answer but leaned into the screen. He was trying to figure out what was being said. He could only make out some of the words. Suddenly he jumped up from his seat and pulled Quatre away from the computer. He actually looked determined.   
  
"Wait, Duo what's going on?" Quatre asked confused.  
  
"We have to get out of here, they're coming this way." He said back as they headed for the hangar. "The one shuttle is all fixed so there shouldn't be any problems getting out of here." He mentioned as they were almost there.  
  
"But what about Heero and Trowa? We can't leave them." Quatre remarked. Duo stopped and turned to him.  
  
"We don't have a choice. We need some help here. We've gotta get to Sally." He answered and turned around only to stop short as Heero and Trowa were standing right there. He practically fell over but caught his balance. Quatre stood there in shock.  
  
"Hey guys, what's going on? We were wondering where you were." Duo said trying to smile.  
  
"Where are you going?" Trowa said in an even more monotone voice then before. He definitely wasn't acting normal. "We were coming to find you. How else are we supposed to stop the enemy?" Quatre explained defensively.  
  
"You are the enemy." Heero said back catching both of their attention. "What are you talking about?" Duo asked getting ready to run in the opposite direction. He held his hand behind his back and motioned for Quatre to run as well.  
  
"You're the ones who don't understand." Heero added. Duo turned and pushed Quatre as they ran. Heero and Trowa moved quickly to stop them. Heero grabbed Duo under his arms and held on tight. Duo couldn't get away. Trowa had Quatre's hands behind his back and was too strong for him.  
  
"Trowa, why are you doing this?" Quatre asked, causing Trowa to push him against the wall hard. It knocked the air out of him. "Just be quiet." Trowa answered somewhat maliciously. Duo tried to get loose. The more he tried to move the more Heero tightened his grip.  
  
"They're way to strong. What's goin on?" Duo said exasperated. He finally managed to get close enough to the wall. He backed Heero into it and Heero let go of him. He punched Heero hard and moved quickly to free Quatre as well. They pushed Trowa into Heero, causing them both to fall down. They ran towards the hangar. Heero and Trowa were right behind them. Quatre was still breathing hard as they got into the shuttle. They locked the door and Duo went to start up the engines. Quatre sat down in the seat next to him.  
  
"What are we going to do?" He asked as Duo was preparing to take off.  
  
"Right now we are going to get out of here. There's nothing else we can do." Quatre looked out the window to see the other two Preventers standing there looking up at him. Quatre felt a chill shoot up his back as he looked at them. He turned away from the window.  
  
"I think I know what happened." He admitted to Duo.  
  
"What? But how?" Duo asked stopping what he was doing. Quatre looked over, concern written all over his face.  
  
"It has something to do with the Zero System." Duo's jaw dropped. Quatre looked back out the window and the two were gone.   
  
"Hey, where'd they go?" Quatre said looking around for them. There was a loud blast from behind the shuttle. It pushed it forward. Duo tried to get control of it but nothing was working. A warning came on.  
  
"What is it?" Quatre asked leaning over. Duo tried everything.  
  
"We have to change something in the back. Can you go back and switch the power?" He asked Quatre, who was already up. He headed into the back. Duo looked up towards the exit. Heero stood in front of the exit with a rocket launcher.  
  
"Oh great, where'd he find that? Hey Quatre yah better hurry, we've gotta problem up here!" He yelled back.   
  
"It doesn't make any sense, here I was searching all over this ship trying to find a descent weapon and he pulls one out of nowhere." Duo grumbled to himself. Quatre came on the intercom.  
  
"We're ready now." He informed Duo.  
  
"Okay, hang on to something." Duo answered and they headed right for Heero. He jumped out of the way. The shuttle shot through the doors. It hit the one side on the way out but they made it safely. Duo breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
"Hey Quatre, we made it. You can come up here now." He announced putting the shuttle into auto-pilot. He glanced to the back. "Quatre?" He headed back to see why Quatre wasn't answering him. He was on the floor, unconscious. Duo scratched the back of his head and bent over to pick Quatre up. He set him down in the passenger seat. 'Guess he didn't hear me when I told him to hang on', Duo thought as he sat down.  
  
"This is crazy. It just doesn't make any sense. And of course   
  
It has something to do with that stupid system. And Quatre can't tell me why. This is soo nuts." He said, throwing his hands up and propping his feet up on the dash. He looked at the ceiling of the cockpit for awhile.  
  
"Guess I should figure out where to land this thing." He decided leaning forward. They had to land on earth since he wasnt sure what kind of damaged was done to the shuttle. Emergency landings never worked well on colonies. The best place to land was in Europe. They only knew of one person who was in Europe at that time.  
  
"I don't see why she'd mind us stopping in there." Duo thought out loud. "But it would be rude to just show up." He headed to the back where there was a computer to send mail.  
  
Once he was done with the first one, he sent another to Sally in New York to let her know of what was happening.  
  
***  
  
The shuttle landed at a space port on the outskirts of France. Duo glanced out the window to see a large yellow limo outside. He smiled to himself.  
  
"Guess she got the message." He thought out loud and went to open the door. He returned to the front to get Quatre and headed down the stairs. Dorothy quickly got out of the limo and greeted them.  
  
"I can't believe this happened. As soon as I got your note, I came here. I'm glad I'm able to help." She said as they headed for her mansion.  
  
"Well first I think we should make sure Quatre's alright and then I'll see what you can do for us." He answered. He suddenly blushed hearing his stomach growl loudly.  
  
"Hey do you cook?" He asked curiously. Dorothy almost laughed at the question. She flipped her hair over her shoulder.   
  
"No, I don't need to since I have so many servants." She replied. 'No wonder she's single.' Duo thought and just smiled back. Once they got to the mansion and Quatre was sleeping on one of the guest bedroom and Duo had had something to eat, he decided to contact Sally again. Noin was the one to get the call.  
  
"What happened? We were waiting to hear from the ship and never got a call." She asked him. "Sorry bout that but this is bigger then we thinks it is. Can the rest of the Preventers come here?" He replied. Noin looked down and sighed. "Where do you want us to meet you? We can leave in about a half hour." She answered. "Great, here are the coordinates. I'll see you then." They ended their conversation. Relena was standing in the doorway along with Hilde, who had just gotten there. Noin turned their way.  
  
"I'm going too." Relena announced. Hilde just nodded in agreement.  
  
"Are you sure you should. The Preventers can handle this." She answered hoping that Relena would change her mind. Relena just shook her head. "I'm going. This involves Heero so I have to find out what happened." She said resolutely. Noin nodded back her approval. "I'll cancel all my meetings for the next couple of days." She added. Hilde jumped into the conversation finally.  
  
"I'm going too." She declared. Noin couldn't help but smile at her. "I wouldn't have objected to you going. Relena just has a lot of other things that she has to do here." Noin explained. As soon as the other Preventers were ready to go, they caught a plane heading for Europe.  
  
***  
  
At Dorothy's mansion, Quatre finally woke up. His head hurt but other then that he was okay. He came out of the guest bedroom and went down the hallway. Dorothy came into view and he stopped. She hurried up to him.  
  
"Are you feeling better? You had us so worried." She told him. He honestly had a hard time following her since his head still hurt. He just nodded his responses since she wasnt giving him enough time to say anything. "Oh how silly of me, your probably hungry by now. I can show you to the kitchen." She mentioned, taking him by the arm and leading the way.  
  
"I don't have to eat right now, Miss Dorothy, really I can wait." He said, causing her to turn around.  
  
"Since when have you called me 'Miss'? You can just call me Dorothy." She told him and continued to lead the way. They passed one room that Duo was in. Quatre caught his eye and gave him a helpless look. He came out into the hallway.   
  
"Oh hey Quatre, you're actually up. That's great." He said, getting Dorothy's death grip off his arm and pushing him into the side room. "Sorry Dorothy, but I gotta borrow him for a little while. It'll only take a sec." He said, closing the doors. Quatre let out a sigh of relief.  
  
"Thanks Duo, I can't take that kind of pressure when I just woke up." He admitted.  
  
"Well you're gonna hafta explain this whole Zero System thing to me." Duo answered, taking a seat. Quatre sat down as well. "There's not much to tell. That's why Heero and Trowa were acting like that." He explained. "Yeah but how, I mean no one has that technology anymore and besides that, they were just walking around. No cockpit involved." Duo pointed out but Quatre just shook his head.  
  
"I don't know how they got that information but they did somehow. This seems to be more dangerous though then the Zero system." Duo just leaned back in his chair. "Well the others are on their way now. Guess we really can't do much more till they get here." He mentioned placing his hands behind his head and yawning. Quatre stood up.  
  
"I'm going to get something to eat. My head still hurts so maybe that'll help." He said as he left the room. Duo nodded back as he propped his feet up and closed his eyes. A couple hours later the rest of the Preventers as well as Relena arrived. There were two cars waiting for them once their plane landed. They quickly got into the cars and headed for Dorothy's. Once they got there, Dorothy was at the door to greet them. Once inside, all the Preventer's and Relena went into the sitting room for a meeting. Noin opened the meeting by hearing all the information the Quatre and Duo knew.  
  
"So now we don't know what's happening on the ship." Zechs mentioned.  
  
"And what about Heero and Trowa?" Noin asked Zechs. Relena looked up to see what her brother would say. He closed his eyes as if he was thinking hard about the question. "I don't know what we can do for them right now. There's too much about this situation that doesn't make sense." He decided glancing over at Relena. She looked away trying not to show how sad she looked. Noin quickly got to another issue.  
  
"Did you find out anything about why they decided to take over our ship?" She asked Duo and Quatre. They looked at each other.  
  
"Well, they didn't really say anything about it. It doesn't make sense since there aren't any weapons onboard." Quatre answered. Duo shook his head and stood up.  
  
"This whole thing is insane. We don't even know why they're doing this." He said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and slumped over to the window. "That's what we're trying to figure out here." Wufei called over from the couch. "But there are several facts that don't add up though. And sitting here talking about it isn't going to get us any answers." Quatre pointed out. Hilde glanced over at Relena. She had just sat there observing everyone else but noticed how silent Relena had been. She also noticed she hadn't said anything either. "We have to figure out how to get on board without being detected." Zechs explained. "But that's impossible considering their defense."  
  
Quatre remarked. Wufei gritted his teeth. "Why don't the two of you start helping instead of being so pessimistic." He replied. Duo glared at him.  
  
"Hey, we were there. If they managed to convinced Heero and Trowa to take their side then what chance do we really have?" He stated. Lady Une finally put her hand up before anyone could say anymore.   
  
"This isn't going to get us anywhere. We're just arguing but not coming to any solution." She turned to Hilde. "Do you think you could jam up their radar long enough for some of us to get on?" Hilde gave her a surprised look then nodded. Duo was shocked at her reply. "No way, it's too dangerous." He exclaimed. Hilde looked his way. "It's okay; I don't have to be there." He turned away. "But I still don't like it?" He muttered. Une continued to explain her idea and no one seem to disagree with it.   
  
***  
  
(Three hours later)  
  
In the control room on the ship, an alarm was going off. No one was in there at the time so it went off for awhile. Finally one of the guards came in to check it out. Once he saw what it was, he ran out of the room to get some help. Most of the people onboard came back into the room. The leader of the group went to the controls. He checked them over and finally pushed a couple of keys. The alarm stopped. He turned to the two standing next to him.  
  
"Well do you know anything about this?" He asked them. Heero continued to cross his arms and look at the floor. Trowa looked over at the controls. "Seems that they've come up a plan." He pointed out. The leader gave him a look. "What makes you say that?" He asked, just before the lights all went off. He glared and clenched his fists at his sides. The back up generators came on and the room was light again. "Never mind." The leader said and marched out of the room. 


	2. Preventer's retaliation

"Well they know we're up to something now." Hilde announced, looking away from the screen of her computer. Everyone looked her way.  
  
"Wha'dya do?" Duo asked, leaning against the far wall. "I turned off their power. Of course the back ups will come on but I'll shut those down too." She announced, looking pretty proud of herself. They were now in two separate shuttles on their way back to the ship. In one shuttle were Zechs, Noin, Sally and Relena. Relena had decided she was coming along and no one seemed to argue with her. In the other shuttle were Quatre, Duo, Wufei, and Hilde. Une had returned to their main office. The plan was for them to leave the shuttles, once they got close enough to the ship and then get inside in order to take over. As long as one of them made it to the control room. Hilde was going to stay on one of the shuttles along with Relena and sabotage their own ship. They could always fix everything later.   
  
About Twenty minutes later, Hilde nodded over to the others. Wufei leaned over the controls of the shuttle.  
  
"Okay, let's go." He informed the other shuttle. They all except for Relena and Hilde grabbed their helmets and headed out towards the ship. Once they got outside the one hangar they stopped and waited. The one side began to open. Duo noted that they had already repaired the one door that had been damaged before. They all made it inside and Hilde ordered the door to shut. Hilde pulled a headset on her head.  
  
"Anyone there yet?" She called into the mic.  
  
"Hey honey." Duo called back. They all decided to separate onboard but each of them kept up communication.   
  
"Okay everyone, first thing we do is try to find Heero and Trowa." Noin informed them over their headsets. "Yeah but what do we do when we find them?" Quatre asked her.   
  
"Your gun is just a stun gun. That's the best we can do for now." Sally answered him. Hilde could tell where each one of them was on the ship since in each of the headsets was a tracking device. Relena leaned over her shoulder watching where each of them was on the ship. They all appeared to be taking different routes to the front. Noin ran into trouble on the way but managed to loose the two guards who were after her. She let Hilde know what was going on as well as the others. A couple of minutes passed before Wufei reported trouble where he was. But he also handled it by knocking each soldier out and then handcuffing them to each other. Once he hid the evidence, he continued towards the front of the ship. It was very quiet at that point. After awhile Hilde asked each member of her team to say something just to make sure they were all there. Everyone except Sally and Duo had answered her. "Hey are you two there?" She called again. Sally came on in a whisper. "I have to keep down around this section since there are a lot of guards are around." She answered. "Okay then. How about you, Duo?" She replied. Still no answer. She switched the headset to his line directly. There was nothing but static. A look of terror crossed her face. What if he got caught? But why didn't I hear anything? She thought to herself. Relena noticed her sudden change and placed her hand on her shoulder.   
  
"You could always go in too if you wanted to." She suggested, trying to sound optimistic. Hilde only shook her head. "I have to stay out here for when they have to get out. I have to open the hangar door." She explained. Relena looked at the computer screen.   
  
"Well can't one of them go to where he last was?" She mentioned. "None of them knew where he was. They don't have this layout on hand." She looked down balling her hands into fists. Relena straightened up suddenly.   
  
"Then I'll do it. I know where to go. It's the only way." She decided. Hilde just stared at the screen now. "I can't let you do that. Heero would never forgive me." Relena put her hands on her hips. "He's one of the reasons we're here. I can't just sit out here while my brother and friends are risking their lives." She answered resolutely. Hilde finally conceded.  
  
  
  
"There's a suit in the back. I'll open the hatch doors for you." She said back. By this point none of the other Preventer's could hear her over the headset. Relena headed for the ship. She wasnt used to being out in space. It was weird for her. She felt a little dizzy but shook it off. I have to do this for Heero. She reminded herself. She was quickly inside the hangar and headed in the correct direction. She also had a headset on in order to talk to Hilde. She got to the right area but there wasn't anyone there. "No one's here." She said into her mic. She found another headset on the floor. She went around a corner quickly and found Duo unconscious on the floor. Someone else was there. She looked up and was caught off guard. Heero stood there with a gun aimed at her. Even though it wasnt the first time, it still scared her.   
  
  
  
"Heero..." She managed out. He didn't answer her. He remained where he was, his steady gaze never leaving her. There was no feeling in his eyes, just like before. He finally made a move, tugging her headset off her head. She turned her head away, causing her hair to fly in her face.   
  
  
  
"What are YOU doing here?" He actually spoke. At that point, Relena had lost her nerve. What had caused such a change? She went to reach for him but he just backed away, gun still in hand. She got her nerve back.  
  
  
  
"Heero, what happened? Why are you acting this way?" She said, in a demanding tone. His facial expression didn't waver. He just stared at her.  
  
"YOU shouldn't be here." Was all he said back. He moved towards her. He pulled the hair in her face behind her ear. She was actually angry at this point. She quickly hit him across the face. She had never done that before.   
  
"I don't know who you are." She said. He turned his head back to her and grabbed her forearm. She glared angrily at him. Angry tears came from nowhere.   
  
"Heero." She looked down sadly. He loosened his grip on her arm and shook his head back and forth. He let go of her completely and slowly backed away.   
  
"No, stop it." He muttered, covering his ears and stumbling backwards. He fell on the floor. Relena took a couple of steps. "Heero?" She wasn't sure what was going on.   
  
"Stop it Zero! Stop it!" He remarked closing his eyes tightly. Relena was now right next to him. She was beginning to understand what was going on.  
  
"Heero, come back." She told him, causing him to cringe even more and lean over. After what seemed like forever he squinted up at her.  
  
"Relena..." He said. She smiled at that. "Where are we?" He asked her quickly getting to his feet. She told him what little she knew.  
  
"They have the Zero system." He admitted, going over to Duo and setting him against the wall.  
  
"How'd they get that?" She asked.  
  
"The only thing they told me was they had connections in Luxembourg." He said getting her headset off the floor.  
  
"This is Heero. Everything's fine here Hilde." He informed her. She let him have it anyway.  
  
"You're the reason I've been on edge over here. I thought something bad happened to Relena and I'd have to explain why she was even there." She exclaimed.  
  
"Why are you here anyway?" He asked Relena, handing her the headset.  
  
"To find him." She pointed to Duo.  
  
"Hilde was worried." She added. There was a sudden sound of footsteps coming their way. Heero heard it first.  
  
"Come on, we've gotta get out of here." He pulled her into a side room and dragged Duo in, as well before shutting the door. Once inside with the door shut he turned back to Relena.  
  
"Now that everything's okay, I want you out of here." He told her.  
  
"Things aren't okay yet. The Preventer's still have to get control of the ship and Trowa Barton is still on the enemy's side." She explained quietly, so not to be heard outside.   
  
"But that doesn't concern you right now. We can handle it from here. Your better off waiting in the shuttle with Hilde." He answered her. She finally conceded. He turned away from her in order to lean down. He shook Duo, hoping it would be enough to wake him up. "Come on, I didn't hit you that hard." He said as Duo finally seemed coherent. He glanced up at Heero and then looked over to Relena.  
  
  
  
"Is he still bad?" He asked, rubbing the back of his head. "No, he's okay." She smiled. Once the commotion outside settled down Heero glanced back at Relena and then Duo.  
  
"Okay, you can bring Relena back to the shuttle. That way Hilde can know everything is fine. I'm going to try to get to the leader." He decided. "This time try not to get caught. I never liked the idea of coming back here anyway." Duo answered. Relena handed Heero the headset. "Just be careful." She reminded him. They went their separate ways.  
  
***  
  
Heero met up with Sally. He quickly convinced her he was on her side now.   
  
"So any ideas on how to get the ship in our control again? They seem to definitely have us at a disadvantage." She told him. "We've also got to find a way to get Trowa back. This 'Zero' system of theirs is very advanced. It something worth looking into." He mentioned. "Any idea's as to how they got their hands on it?" She asked him. "No clue, maybe Zechs might know. In any case, if the rest of the Preventer's take care of the guards, I can handle the leader as well as Trowa." He replied. "If you say so. I'll let the others know." Once Sally left, Heero made his way to the control room. The leader of the intruders was in there trying to gain control of the ship. In each section, something was going hay-wire. Heero realized that no one had even mentioned the leader's name. He could only assume that it was for confidential purposes. He turned as Heero came into the room.   
  
"Where'd you go? I need your help with this thing." He told him. "That's not likely to happen." Heero answered, pulling out his gun. The man glared at him. "So it would seem you're no longer on our side. That's disappointing." He muttered.  
  
Heero thought about replying but didn't. Once the leader was handcuffed, Heero went over to the panel and got in contact with Hilde. Once he found out how the others were doing onboard he called on the loudspeaker to the entire ship. "This ship is now back in the Preventer's control. Your leader has been arrested and most of the soldiers as well. Any more retaliating would be meaningless." He explained. Noin was the first one to make it to the control room.  
  
"Have you been able to locate Trowa anywhere?" She asked him. He just shook his head.  
  
"Really. No one else has been able to find him either." She looked down at the floor. "We'll find him soon enough I'm sure." At that point, Zechs came in. "Everyone is in the confinement area. Sally, Wufei, and Quatre are there as well. Considering that half of them are part of Preventer's and were affected by the Zero system we can't arrest them." He reported to Noin. She nodded back.  
  
"Guess we'll just have to wait for the side effects to wear off." She said in agreement. "What about their System? Where'd they get it from?" Zechs asked Heero. He didn't respond but looked over at the indignant leader, hand-cuffed on the floor.   
  
"He'd know more about it then I would." Heero mentioned. The man closed his eyes and laughed. Once he stopped he looked up at them maliciously.   
  
"Sure I'll tell you about that system. We got it from Luxembourg. We changed it though in order to make the effects last longer. Since the colonies used it to take over earth it seemed appropriate. Not only do the effects last longer but they probably aren't very beneficial to one's health. Those mind-warping side effects can be pretty bad." He started to smirk again. Noin went over to Heero, no longer facing the ex-leader.  
  
"Any idea how to get someone out of that state of mind?" She asked him. "I don't know if there is a specific way to. Each time it's been something different." Zechs went over to get into the conversation.   
  
"Maybe we can find the location of their system and destroy it. That might do something." He suggested. The three of them looked over at their prisoner.   
  
"No way am I saying anything." He decided. "Things might go better for you if you did." Noin mentioned to him over her shoulder. A red button began blinking on the control panel. Heero hit the button next to it.   
  
"Hey it's Wufei. We found Trowa. He's still acting weird though." He said to Heero. He looked over at Zechs and Noin. "I'm going to where they are." He decided and left the room.  
  
***  
  
When Heero got there the first person to come into view was Wufei, then Sally and finally Quatre and Trowa. Quatre looked tired and worn out. Heero figured it was because of the state Trowa was in. At that point he wasn't doing anything that would seem out of character. He was just sitting there not paying much attention to anything. Heero went over to the other three.   
  
"Well?" He asked them.  
  
"I gave him something to keep him quiet but that's not going to solve the problem. I don't know what else to do though." Sally explained to Heero. He walked over to Trowa.   
  
"Can you hear me?" He asked him but got no response.   
  
"That's how he reacts to all of us." Quatre said sadly. Heero turned back to the others.  
  
"And we have about fifteen other men just like this too." Sally pointed out.   
  
"According to their leader, if we don't do something quick, there could be serious consequences." Heero said to Sally. Her expression became graver then before.  
  
"Then what are we going to do Heero?" She asked him.  
  
"Well for starters you could stop standing around and worrying about it." Duo said from the doorway.   
  
"This really isn't the time to be sarcastic, Maxwell." Wufei told him.  
  
"Oh don't get so uptight." He answered as he saw Hilde running their way.   
  
"I found it!" She announced as she came in. She was carrying a piece of hardware under her arm.   
  
"Where'd you find that?" Heero asked her taking a look at it. "It was in their shuttle the entire time." She explained. Heero opened it up to find a screen and a small keypad. He typed in end task and the whole thing shut off. Trowa suddenly grabbed his head and fell back against the wall.  
  
"What did you do?" Sally asked, going over to Trowa.   
  
"Ahhah, Zero...stop it...err..no." Trowa yelled out.   
  
"I turned it off." Heero said back. Trowa finally stopped and shook his head a little.   
  
"Trowa? You okay now?" Quatre asked going over. Trowa looked up, trying to focus. He finally nodded.   
  
"Yeah, I'm okay Quatre." He answered. Duo went over to Heero. "Relena's still in the shuttle. It's all ready for you to leave whenever you want." He said with a grin.   
  
"Where do you think your going?" Heero asked him. He grabbed Hilde by the hand and headed for the door.  
  
"I'm going on a vacation. This job is too much sometimes." He replied leaving the room. Hilde just gave a weak wave before she disappeared into the hallway. Heero tossed the 'Zero system' hardware against the far wall. It smashed into millions of pieces.   
  
"That shouldn't be a problem anymore. Guess I'll take off now too." He added, stuffing his hands in his pockets and leaving for the hangar. The entire incident was pretty much forgotten about. The leader was imprisoned and anyone else responsible. The Preventer's ship was now safeguarded against any more attacks in the future.  
  
*The*End* 


End file.
